Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tuesday November 11

It was a rather busy Tuesday night as a dozen teams took part in 6 games around the league. Former Islanders are really making major strides in many of the major markets and this night was no exception. FIs were major players in 3 of those contests. Here is a quick recap of the events:

With 3 FIs playing important roles in the Stanley Cup rematch between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the host Detroit Red Wings it was the shortest tenured of the trio who took the cake. Winger Ruslan Fedotenko scored the game winner 3:49 in to OT to lift the Pens to a 7-6 come-from-behind win over the Wings. Down 6-4 midway through the 3rd period the Penguins rallied for 2 goals in the final 4 minutes and change to force OT. Jordan Staal, who had recorded a 3rd period hat trick, set up Fedo for the game winner, the 27th of his career. Fedotenko now has 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points on 14 games. Two of his 3 goals have been deciding tallies. After a start like molasses Fedo has turned it on recently with all 5 points coming in the last 7 games. Also helping the Pens' cause was Miroslav Satan who assisted on the opening goal as well as a powerplay helper about 7 minutes in to the 3rd. Satan is playing at nearly a point-per-game pace and now has 8 goals and 6 assists for 14 points on 15 games. Over the last 5 contests Satan has over half his season points with 8 (4 goals, 4 assists). The multi-point effort was his 3rd in the last 4 games. Taking the OT loss was Wings' goaltender Chris Osgood who surrendered 7 goals on 34 shots. Ozzie's record fell to 6-1-3 on the season while his numbers still hover around the surreal - the surreally bad that is. Osgood has an .880 save percentage and a 3.34 goals against average. With those stats it is hard to believe that Ozzie has not lost in regulation since opening night. The 7 goals against was one of the worst performances of Osgood's career. The last time Ozzie surrendered 6 goals in regulation was on April 18, 2006 - his last start of the 2005-06 campaign and the first season of his second stint with the Red Wings.

Calgary winger Todd Bertuzzi had an even strength assist on the Flames' first goal as they edged the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Bert now has 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) on 17 games this season. Over the last 4 games Bertuzzi has compiled 5 helpers yet he has failed to net a goal in the last 5 contests. Calgary is 2-3-1 in games in which Bertuzzi has scored a goal and 7-4-0 in games when he has not scored one so him not finding the net is not actually a deficit to the Flames. Toronto coach Ron Wilson is a misguided fool and proved it yet again scratching winger Jason Blake for the second time this season. Wilson has a "prove it" stance on which he will scratch players on game day if he feels they are not pulling their weight and it does not matter how big a name you are. Blake was infuriated with being scratched and rumors are surfacing that Blake is on the trading block although it might be hard to move the 2 years and $8 million remaining on his contract albeit the remaining monies he is owed for this season.

It is rather surprising how much Brad Lukowich we have been covering lately but the San Jose defenseman is finding his way on to the scoresheet and in to our hearts. Well, on to the scoresheet anyway. Luko had his 4th assist in his last 6 games setting up the first goal of the game late in the 1st period as the Sharks fell to the visiting Nashville Predators 4-3 in OT. Lukowich now has 4 assists on 16 games this season and is already over halfway to his point total from last year (7) which he managed in 59 games while playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning.